


The Hacker, the Thief, and the Wardrobe

by meils121



Category: Leverage
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:05:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5434199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/pseuds/meils121
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Parker climbs into a closet and finds Narnia. Spoiler: It's not Narnia. She just likes to hide in small spaces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hacker, the Thief, and the Wardrobe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizzy/gifts).



            Parker doesn’t remember what foster home she was in when she first read the book.  Her fifth or sixth, she thinks, but they tend to all blend together in a horrible montage of faceless adults and strange houses.  But she remembers the book.  It had been hers, stolen from the school library before summer break.  She remembers pouring over the pages, desperately wishing she could be Lucy and sneak away to Narnia.  Away from the rules that changed from house to house, away from sharing a bedroom with too many people, away from the questions and the disapproving looks.  

            Parker had opened every closet in the house.  She hid in bedroom closets underneath hanging clothes.  She curled up in coat closets alongside umbrellas and boots.  She snuggled up with spare bedsheets in linen closets and wedged herself between boxes of Christmas decorations in storage closets.  None of them led somewhere magical, but she did discover something almost as important: no one bothered her if she was tucked away in a closet.  

            Parker’s favorite spot is the coat closet in Nate’s apartment.  It’s filled with all the strange things they’ve collected over the years: two of Parker’s rigs, a box full of wigs, several of Sophie’s shoes whose matches have gone missing.  A fishing pole is propped up in one corner.  There’s a nun’s habit hanging next to an assortment of jackets emblazoned with the names of several law enforcement agencies. There are a few stolen paintings leaning up against one wall.  A number of Hardison’s failed inventions have been banished to the closet - temporarily, he claims, though Parker knows better than anyone that they’ve been there for months .  It may not have been Narnia, but it always feels like a different world to Parker.  She can spend hours in there, lost in daydreams of stealing artwork and famous gems.  

 

* * *

 

            “Has anyone seen Parker?”  Nate’s voice is muffled by the closet door.  Parker considers getting out, but she doesn’t want to.  She’s mad - mad at him, mad at the mark, mad at the world.  She wants someone to blame for her pain.  She wants Sophie, but even Sophie’s abandoned her.  Tara may be a decent grifter, but she’s not nice.  Parker just wants to go back to how things were before all of this happened, before Sophie left and Tara came and before the mark told everyone about her baby brother being killed.  Before all of that.  

            So Parker doesn’t leave her hiding place.  She just curls up further into the back corner and cries.  Silently, something she learned how to do a very long time ago.  The sobs rack her body.  She cries until her lungs hurt and her body aches.  She’s only faintly aware of time passing, of the sound of footsteps leaving the room outside the closet.  Light no longer filters through the cracks into the closet, leaving her in total darkness.  

            Parker hasn’t cried like this in years.  She hates that she feels again.  Things were so much easier when all her emotions were neat and tidy, locked up in the back of her mind where they wouldn’t get in the way.  Now that she works with a team - this team, in particular - it’s not so simple.  

            Hours pass.  This, at least, Parker is good at.  She can sit still and not make any noise, so that’s what she does.  She can’t deal with their pity right now.  Or ever, really.  There were reasons why she never talked about her brother.  Her past was _hers_ , and she trusted no one else with it.  

            Parker’s just about to unfold herself from her hiding spot when she hears a faint noise coming from outside.  She freezes.  She’s almost certain everyone else had left - Nate and Tara certainly had, and she’s pretty positive Hardison left soon after.  It’s not like Eliot to hang around Nate’s apartment - he has his own place, after all.  But then Parker inhales and the scent of something cooking surrounds her.  So it is Eliot.  

            Parker isn’t sure if she wants to come out or not.  She doesn’t even know if Eliot knows she’s still in the apartment.  So she just sits and waits.  The one bad thing about the closet is that there’s no escape route other than the door.  There are no vents to sneak into, no back exits to duck out through unnoticed.  If it had been anyone else in the apartment, she would have been able to sneak by them anyways.  But Eliot’s as good at sensing movement as she is at staying quiet.  She might as well just stay put.

            And she would have, too, had Eliot’s voice not called out then. “Parker, dinner’s ready.”  He says.  Parker doesn’t want to talk to anyone tonight, and she’s just about decided that she’s staying exactly where she is when she catches the scent of bacon and, okay, she’s willing to at least see what Eliot made.  She still doesn’t have to talk to him, not if she doesn’t want to.

            “Parker, I put chocolate chips in the damn pancakes.  Are you gonna eat or not?”  Eliot yells from the kitchen.  

            Parker slowly inches her way out of the closet.  Her body is sore, both from being curled up and from crying so much.  When she cracks open the door, she sees a stack of pancakes in the middle of the table and Eliot sitting there, eating a piece of bacon.  

            “Why are you here?”  Parker asks.  Her voice cracks.  She doesn’t understand what’s happening.  

            “Just eat, Parker.”  Eliot says, and he sounds tired.  So Parker does what he says.  

            The pancakes are good, loaded with chocolate chips.  Eliot even put out a can of whipped cream.  It’s exactly the kind of food Parker likes, the type she’s always sought out after a bad day.  She just doesn’t get why Eliot made it for her.

            They eat in silence.  Parker’s thankful for that.  She’s not ready to talk about what happened.  Actually, she never wants to talk about it again.  Still, she’s curious why Eliot cares.  

            It’s not until Eliot stands up to do the dishes that either of them speaks.  “I can practically hear you thinking over there.”  Eliot says.  “What is it?”

            “Why’d you do this for me?”

            Eliot shrugs.  “I’m no good at talking about stuff like Sophie is.  I can hurt people, and I can cook.  If Nate won’t let me hurt the mark, the least I can do is feed you.”

            “Thanks.”  Parker says.  

            Eliot just nods.  “Go home, Parker.  Get some sleep.”

            Parker still has horrible dreams that night, chocolate chips pancakes or not.  Nothing’s ever going to be able to get rid of these particular nightmares.  But she thinks maybe she is ready to start talking about what happened.  She picks up her phone and dials the number Nate can’t know about, and waits to hear Sophie’s voice on the other end.

 

* * *

           

            It doesn’t matter that the funeral was fake.  It felt real to Parker, and she can’t help picturing Sophie lying there in the casket everytime she sees Sophie now.  It’s freaking her out more than she’d like to admit.  So she does the only thing she can think of: she avoids Sophie completely.  It’s not as hard as she thinks it will be.  Nobody knows that she spends so much of her time in the closet.  While the rest of the apartment is bustling with activity and noise, the closet is a quiet place she can escape to and not have to think.  

            Things change again when Sophie leaves.  Parker doesn’t like Tara - doesn’t trust her, doesn’t think she’s right for their team.  Tara only tries once to get Parker to leave her closet.  It doesn’t end well.  Parker has to sit through a lecture from Eliot about how “We don’t taser people on our team, Parker!”.  

            And it doesn’t matter how often she talks to Sophie.  Parker still feels this awful empty hole in her chest, and she doesn’t know what it is, only that she doesn’t like it.  She feels bad that she avoided Sophie as much as she did before.  She misses talking to Sophie, face-to-face, even if Sophie wanted to talk about the feelings that Parker has worked so hard to keep buried all these years.  

Parker’s thrilled when Sophie returns, but then Nate has to go and insist he doesn’t want to be broken out of prison.  Their team is still broken up, and Parker doesn’t like it.  She retreats to her closet again, where she can pretend everything is exactly how she wants it to be.  

            A shriek wakes Parker up from a nap one afternoon.  “What are you doing in here?”  Sophie asks, holding one hand to her chest in a semi-convincing act of fright.  

            “Napping.”  Parker says.  She blinks up at Sophie.  “What are you doing?”

            Sophie sighs, like she does when Parker says something that Sophie doesn’t quite _get_.  “You’re napping in the closet?”

            “Yes.”  Now it’s Parker’s turn to sigh.  She thinks, given that Sophie knows her habit of falling asleep hanging upside down, napping in a closet isn’t really anything to be confused about.  But Sophie is Sophie, and she likes to talk about these things.

            “You could sleep on the sofa.”  Sophie says.  “Hardison and Eliot do it all the time.”

            Parker shrugs.  “I like it here.”  She insists.  

            “Parker-”  And that’s the voice Sophie uses when she tries to explain how normal people do things.  She knows that _normal_ people don’t sleep in closets, but Parker isn’t normal, and she likes it that way.   She happy when Hardison calls out to Sophie with his newest plan to spring Nate.  

            Sophie doesn’t drop the topic, though.  The next time she finds Parker in the closet, she sits down on the floor right outside the door.  “Parker, how long have you been doing this?”  She asks, waving her hand at the closet and the way Parker’s tucked between a guitar case and a stack of boxes.  

            “I think I was eight.”

            Sophie’s expression turns from one of confusion to one of sadness, and Parker supposes she’s actually learning if she can figure out the difference.  Still, she doesn’t know why Sophie looks sad.  Parker _likes_ hiding in the closet.  She tells Sophie as much.

            “But why?”

            “Because.”  Parker says.  “It’s quiet and away from everyone else and I can just think.”

            “Okay.”  Sophie says slowly.  She studies Parker for a moment.  “Do you want to be alone, or do you want me to stay and talk?”

            Not long ago, that would have been a simple question for Parker to answer.  Now, though, it takes her a few moments to consider Sophie’s offer.  Finally, she admits, “You can stay.”

            It becomes somewhat of a habit, after that.  Once or twice a week, Sophie will sit down in front of the closet and just talk.  It’s their time.  The rest of the team knows not to interrupt.  Some days they trade stories of the cons and thefts they pulled off long before they met.  Other times, they talk about more serious things.

            “Is this what it’s like to have a mom?”  Parker asks one day.  Sophie falls silent, and when Parker looks up, she’s surprised to see that Sophie has tears in her eyes.  “Sophie?”

            “Is that how you think of me?”

            “Well, yeah.”  Parker says.  “I mean, you give me advice and you listen to me and stuff.  Isn’t that what moms do?”

            Sophie doesn’t say anything, just nods quickly and wraps Parker in a hug.  Parker freezes for a moment before relaxing into the hug.  

            After that, Sophie decides they should start doing more things together other than just talking.  Things she says that Parker missed by not having a real mom.  Parker’s a bit hesitant, especially when Sophie takes her to the mall.

            “Why are we here?”

            “We’re shopping.”  Sophie says.  She sounds a bit like Eliot does when Parker asks if she can taser someone and he says no.  “That’s normally what people do at malls.”

            “But why?”  Parker persists.

            “Shopping relaxes me, Parker.”  Sophie says.  “I thought maybe you might enjoy it too.”

            Parker doesn’t enjoy shopping for one very simple reason.  “Why do you like spending your money?”  She asks.

            “What else would I do with it?”

            “Save it.”  Parker says.  She doesn’t understand Sophie’s obsession with expensive shoes and pricy dresses.  Besides, if she wants something, she can always just steal it.

            Still, Parker has to admit that she has fun spending the afternoon out with Sophie.  She realizes, that at some point over the past few weeks, that horrible empty feeling in her chest has gone away.  Nate’s back, and her team is back to feeling like her family, and she feels like things are finally right with the world.  

 

* * *

 

            “Four ways in.”  Nate mutters.  “Hardison needs to be inside to access the system but we can’t get through the front door unless he has access.”

            Parker likes listening to Nate plan.  Sometimes she even leaves the door to the closet open, just a little, so she can hear better.  He knows she’s there, of course, but he never says anything about it.  Parker likes that.  Listening to Nate plan a job is a bit like having a lullaby sung to you, Parker thinks.  It relaxes her.  

            She’s learned that Nate’s constantly planning.  She’s even peeked out of the closet to confirm that he mutters about security systems and disguises when he naps.  Parker listens and learns as Nate plans.  He thinks about things Parker never would have considered, let alone planned for.  

            The first time Nate actually acknowledges that Parker’s in the closet while he plans is after Parker messes up that job with Archie.  He’s been looking over blueprints, mumbling about access points and weak spots in the security system, when he starts talking to her instead.

            “Do you trust us?”

            Parker pushes the closet door open a little more, just enough so she can hear him better but not enough that she’d have to look him in the eye when she answers.  It’s not that she’s going to lie.  She’s just not ready to see him look disappointed, and she’s sure that’s what’s coming next.  

            “Dunno.”  She says with complete honesty.  “As much as I can trust anyone, I guess.”

            “You could have told me about Archie.”  Nate says.  “I would’ve understood.”

            “Really?”  Parker asks.  “Because you don’t seem to like him.”

            Nate laughs, a hollow, joyless sound.  “I don’t have to.  I don’t get along with my dad.  Family is family, Parker.”

            “Yeah.”  Parker says quietly.  “I like being part of this family,”  She whispers, not sure that she really wants Nate to hear her.  He does, of course, because he’s Nate.  Parker’s almost convinced that he can actually read minds.  He’s creepy that way.  

            Nate doesn’t acknowledge what she said.  Parker hears rustling papers and thinks that Nate must have gone back to planning their latest job.  She curls in on herself, burrowing back against a box of hi-tech Christmas decorations Hardison made last year.  

            “Why do you call him ‘sir’?”  Nate asks after a few minutes of silence.  

            Parker doesn’t really have a decent answer for that.  She’s been calling Archie that since she met him.  “He was my teacher.”  She finally says.  “We weren’t a team.  We weren’t equals.”

            “Ah.”  Nate says.  Parker can hear the edge in his voice, the barely hidden disgust.  That’s the thing about Nate, though.  When they started this, he may have felt like he was the smartest of all of them, but he never thought of himself as better than anyone else on the team.  Parker thinks that’s why they work.  Nate may be an asshole sometimes, but Parker thinks she prefers that.  She cares about Archie - how could she not? - but he’s not family, not the way Nate is.  Nate took her in when she was still broken.

            Nate doesn’t say anything else, but Parker’s got a question for him now.  “Do you trust me?  I mean, I didn’t tell you about Archie or the job or-”

            “Stop.”  Nate interrupts.  He sounds tired.  “Parker, you called the play back there.  Do you think I would have gone along with it if I didn’t trust you?”

            “I guess not.”  Parker says, but she’s not sure if she really believes that.  She doesn’t feel like she deserves his trust anymore.

            Nate must hear the uncertainty in her voice.  “Come take a look at these blueprints.”  He says.  It’s definitely not what Parker’s expecting him to say.

            “What?”

            “Just look.”  He says.  “I see three possible entrances, but they’ve each got problems.”

            Parker is slow to get up, but she does what Nate asks.  He slides the blueprints across the table to her, and she starts looking over them.  

            “So what, you’re thinking roof, back entrance, and loading dock?”  Parker asks.

            “Yeah.”  Nate says.  “I think the loading dock is our best bet.  We can get inside that way, and then we can get Hardison the access he needs.”

            “No.”  Parker says.  

            “No?”

            “This sort of place won’t let delivery men inside.  They’ll have their own internal mail system.  It’s an extra security measure.”

            “So what do you suggest?  I don’t think Hardison will be happy if you say the roof.”

            “No, not the roof.”  Parker says. “The basement.”

            “We can’t get to the basement.”  Nate argues.  “We’d need to be inside to access it.”

            “The subway used to connect to this building back when it was a hotel for rich people.  It had its own private entrance.”

            “That was fifty years ago.”  Nate says.  “A place this concerned with security would have blocked that.”

            “Mostly.”  Parker replies.  “Since the subway is still active, city maintenance still has access to make sure it’s safe.  We can go in through the front door as maintenance workers using that as our in.”  She taps the blueprints.  “We’ll have a guard on us, but they won’t be able to tell the difference of us doing routine maintenance and Hardison tapping into their system.”

            “That’s...that’s good.”  Nate says.  “Good catch.”

            Parker feels a sense of pride.  She’s planned plenty of her own jobs, but she’s never sat down with Nate to plan one for the team before.  It’s a good feeling.  She thinks she may have picked up a few things in all the time she's sat in her closet listening to Nate.  She knows this is Nate's way of showing her that he still trusts her, and she's glad he did it this way.  Nate gets that words are complicated.  Jobs aren't nearly as confusing.

 

* * *

 

            There’s a knock on the closet door.  “What?”  Parker asks, annoyed at being bothered and not sure what to do with the fact that the team knows now where she spends so much of her time.  

            Hardison peeks his head into the closet.  “I just thought you might want some pillows.  Might be a little more comfortable.”  He holds a stack of pillows out as a peace offering.  Parker hesitates for a moment.

            “Thanks.”   

            She’s expecting him to stick around, but he just hands her the pillows and gestures over his shoulder.  “I’ll be out here if you need me or anything.”

            He leaves.  Parker’s left holding the pillows and staring at the door, wondering what just happened.  She’s confused.  Everyone else wants to get her out of her hiding place, and Hardison gives her pillows so she can make the closet cozier?  

            It’s not a one-time thing, either.  On the days when she spends more times in the closet than with the team, Hardison will knock with offers of blankets or chocolate.  Slowly, the closet turns from a catch-all for stuff from various jobs to a cozy hideout.  It feels more like Narnia than any other place Parker’s hidden in, and she loves it.  

            “Aren’t you going to ask me to come out?”  Parker says one evening after Hardison brings her a bowl of ice cream.  Hardison pauses and shrugs.

            “I never really thought about it that way.”  He says.  “You like it in here, right?  Then who am I to tell you to come out?”

            “Everyone else does.”

            “Since when do you care what everyone else thinks?”

            That’s a good question - one Parker doesn’t have an answer to.  She takes a huge spoonful of ice cream instead to avoid having to answer, but Hardison’s already closing the door anyways, like he never expected her to answer.  Parker’s confused by how matter-of-fact Hardison treats this whole thing, but she’s not going to ruin a good thing by saying anything to him.

            “Parker?”  Hardison asks another time.  “Why a closet?  What’s better about a closet than an air duct or something?”  

            Parker knows then that Hardison does understand her.  The rest of the team wants to know why she’s _in_ the closet, but all Hardison cares about is figuring out why she chooses a closet over someplace else.  So she tells him what she’s never told anyone else.

            “It’s my Narnia.”  She says.  She thinks she’s going to have to explain more, but Hardison’s face lights  up in a grin.

            “I love those books!”  Hardison says.  “Have you watched the movie yet?”

            Parker pauses.  She’s only ever read the one book, back when she was a kid.  She had no idea there were more books, or a movie, or anything like that.  

            “No.”  She says quietly.  “I haven’t even read the book since my foster mom found out I had stolen it and took it away.”

            “Well.”  Hardison says.  “I can fix that.”  And he does.  He gives her a tablet loaded with all of the Narnia books, and Parker spends the next several days curled up in her closet, reading.  She loses herself in the stories.  Hardison keeps the rest of the team from bothering her, and she emerges only to eat before returning to Narnia.

            Parker finally finishes all of the books.  She’s laughed, she’s cried, she’s reread passages that spoke to her more than she ever thought a book could.  

            “Well?”  Hardison asks the next time she heads into the kitchen.  “What did you think?”

            “They were amazing.”  Parker says with a smile.  “Thanks, Alec.”

            Hardison’s answering grin gives Parker a warm, fuzzy feeling.  She likes that feeling, likes knowing that somehow her happiness has made Hardison happy.  Sophie would say something about love and feelings, but Parker thinks that this is different.  Better.  She doesn’t understand love, not yet, but she’s finally gotten to a point where she understands trust.  

            “You said there was a movie.”  Parker says.

            “Yeah.  I can get it for you on the tablet, if you wanted to watch.”

            Parker considers his offer.  She knows what she wants, but she’s afraid of what happens if Hardison doesn’t want the same thing.  She takes a deep breath and says, “I was thinking we could watch it together.”

            Hardison, who’s never been good at keeping a straight face, looks completely surprised by Parker’s suggestion.  “I - yeah, girl, if that’s what you want.  Um, we’re gonna have to move a few things out of the closet so I can fit.”

            “No.”  Parker says.  “Out here.  I want to watch it on the TV, not some little tiny screen.”

            “Oh.”  Hardison says.  “Really?  I mean, that’s great.”

            Parker smiles.  “Yeah.”  She agrees.  

            And so that’s what they do.  Hardison pops a bag of popcorn and grabs two orange sodas, and they settle on the couch to watch the movie.  It may not be as amazing as the books, but Parker’s still swept up into the imaginary world she’s spent so much of her life seeking.  She watches with rapt attention until the credits have stopped rolling.  Hardison, his arm still slung around her, has fallen asleep in the few minutes since the movie ended, and Parker hesitates a moment before curling against him and closing her eyes.  The professor’s words from the movie echo in her mind, that she’ll return to Narnia when she least expects it.  Parker starts to think that maybe the closet wasn’t Narnia after all.  This - the team, the jobs, this new life - _this_ is Narnia.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy!


End file.
